Ordinary PLA infantrymen

sidewinder01 said:

You are totally right, but I do not know why they still make us do it. I remmber doing it in high school for the first 3 weeks of high school, I puked every morning for the first week because they make you jog 50 laps every morning before classes. The good part is - I got to shoot guns at the end

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judging by the lack of discipline in today's youngsters, i say military training should be mandatory for all kids before graduating highschool.

jackbh said:

I think now adays making to high school in China means nothing just like every where else that has schools. Some times even making to college would be meaningless hahaha.

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Perhaps u r right. But I remember the time when one of my relatives in some village in ShanTou, making to college means a lot. People in the village all came together to give her stuffs and there are this big celebration. But that is quite some time back... don't know if it is still true nowaday.

sidewinder01 said:

You are totally right, but I do not know why they still make us do it. I remmber doing it in high school for the first 3 weeks of high school, I puked every morning for the first week because they make you jog 50 laps every morning before classes. The good part is - I got to shoot guns at the end

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you got to shoot guns at the end of a high school training?? Man, I went through a whole of month of the ordeal before my freshman year in high school and didn't even get to touch any weapons!

I think these trainings has nothing to do with wars. I don't know about you guys, but we didn't get any "military" training during that one month, only marching and jogging. Any high school marching band and athletic team would do the same thing. Its main purpose is to teach those spoiled kids discipline and the ability to endure hardship. So from now on, we should call it discipline training, NOT military training. It's very misleading.

vesicles said:

you got to shoot guns at the end of a high school training?? Man, I went through a whole of month of the ordeal before my freshman year in high school and didn't even get to touch any weapons!

I think these trainings has nothing to do with wars. I don't know about you guys, but we didn't get any "military" training during that one month, only marching and jogging. Any high school marching band and athletic team would do the same thing. Its main purpose is to teach those spoiled kids discipline and the ability to endure hardship. So from now on, we should call it discipline training, NOT military training. It's very misleading.

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Okay.... what do you do during your first month if you actually joined the army? I'm guessing a lot of marching and jogging as well.

solarz said:

Okay.... what do you do during your first month if you actually joined the army? I'm guessing a lot of marching and jogging as well.

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with the PLA? or just any army?
i heard that physical training in the PLA isnt that bad in the first month (as it is in any army). afterall you have to get used to it first, but obviously being still in civie mode it feels really hard for the recruits. the real physical hardship starts in the second month,which focuses on PT almost exclusively (third month is for tactical training and weapon handling i think). there was a video on youtube of some recruits who were new to a unit doing morning pt, they were doin knuckle push-ups on pavement and the instructor was counting "97...98..."@_@ and frog leap was like 197 or somethin.

PLA PT emphasize on agility and dexterity, on average the infanteers can do 5km in 17-19min. western army focus on weight carrying, so a LOT of ruckmarches, usually around 10km, with 70lb or more.

solarz said:

Okay.... what do you do during your first month if you actually joined the army? I'm guessing a lot of marching and jogging as well.

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Good point, army basic train involves marching and jogging. However, marching and jogging are not military-specific as many other events also involve these activities. Thus, we can't call any event involving marching and jogging a military event. If the training involves combat tactics and weapons training, that would more qualify it as a military training.

As I mentioned before, no one in China actually sees this training as anything military although it is still called as such. It's more of discipline. why am I saying this? Well one good evidence: after June 4, 1989, all freshmen college students had to go through this training. Students entering Beijing University had to spend a year doing this. Now, they were put through this because the govn't thought these students made a lot of trouble in the Tiananmen Square and they needed to be disciplined. If the training was intended to be militarily oriented, this would make no sense at all. Imagine this: the Chinese leadership was thinking: "a whole bunch of students caused a lot of trouble and chaos in the Tiananmen Square, so we should put them through formal military training and train them to be excellent soldiers". To do what? To more effectively oppose the rule of the communist party? To kill more soldiers and possibly even start a rebellion? Again, the Chinese leadership who thought of this training thing intended it to be a discipline training, something that they used to punish those students who caused trouble in the Square and something they also THOUGHT they could use to put some discipline into the heads of those college students so that no one would be crazy enough to do something like this again.

Only Westerners see something like this and immediately become alarmed: "OMG, China is training its students to fight and to kill!" "They must be preparing a war!" "It must be another people's war, another human wave!" Imagine a whole bunch of high school students marching in neat formation begin a human wave like assault...

solarz said:

Okay.... what do you do during your first month if you actually joined the army? I'm guessing a lot of marching and jogging as well.

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Actually the trainning would really depend on what army you got recruited into. If you were recruited by say 38th group army, you would receive a much harsher training in the first month than many other group army. If i remmebered the right from what my aunt told me;1st week you run 1k everyday holding only your rifle, 2nd week you run 3k with only you rifle, 3rd week it becomes 5k with rifle and ammunation and a military water bottle, 4th week you would run 5k with same stuff but under 23 minutes, 5th week you would run 5k with 10k kg pack with rifle etc with no strict time limit, 6th week you run 5k with 15kg and rifle etc no time limit, by 10th week 15kg pack with rifle etc under 23 minues and by the end of boot camp a GOOD soldier would be able to run under 20 minutes with 15kg, rifle, ammuniation, waterbattle and various other small equpiments. The top graduates would be selected into the 38th army guards battlion, in which they would receive another month of training to become guards for the protection of the group army headquarter and the commanders. On the other hand, training for PAP and other group armies such as the 65th group army would be muc much easier.

sidewinder01 said:

Actually the trainning would really depend on what army you got recruited into. If you were recruited by say 38th group army, you would receive a much harsher training in the first month than many other group army. If i remmebered the right from what my aunt told me;1st week you run 1k everyday holding only your rifle, 2nd week you run 3k with only you rifle, 3rd week it becomes 5k with rifle and ammunation and a military water bottle, 4th week you would run 5k with same stuff but under 23 minutes, 5th week you would run 5k with 10k kg pack with rifle etc with no strict time limit, 6th week you run 5k with 15kg and rifle etc no time limit, by 10th week 15kg pack with rifle etc under 23 minues and by the end of boot camp a GOOD soldier would be able to run under 20 minutes with 15kg, rifle, ammuniation, waterbattle and various other small equpiments. The top graduates would be selected into the 38th army guards battlion, in which they would receive another month of training to become guards for the protection of the group army headquarter and the commanders. On the other hand, training for PAP and other group armies such as the 65th group army would be muc much easier.

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i thought the 23min time limit the passing great for running with nothing.
the standard for running with weight should be 23kg (50lb), not sure about the time limit though
and i dont think training is this intense in the first month. first month is heavy on drill. second month you get really physical, like the obstacle course and all that

pla101prc said:

i thought the 23min time limit the passing great for running with nothing.
the standard for running with weight should be 23kg (50lb), not sure about the time limit though
and i dont think training is this intense in the first month. first month is heavy on drill. second month you get really physical, like the obstacle course and all that

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For boot camp infantry it is not 23kg, it is 15kg for sure. Each army has its own limits for running and other physical course, I went back last yr to visit and my aunt who is a colonial at the BJ MR electric warfare training base give me a guideline (大纲) of the 38th group army and thats how I knew. I think the training are much harder than before now for some reason because I remmeber 23 minute passing without weight as well. And now a days in China, they will train you up a little before you actually go to the boot camp, at least for the Beijing military region. I personally think running is not that bad as long as you are dedicated, all the people who are good in my cross country team are good because they ran more than everyone else.

sidewinder01 said:

For boot camp infantry it is not 23kg, it is 15kg for sure. Each army has its own limits for running and other physical course, I went back last yr to visit and my aunt who is a colonial at the BJ MR electric warfare training base give me a guideline (大纲) of the 38th group army and thats how I knew. I think the training are much harder than before now for some reason because I remmeber 23 minute passing without weight as well. And now a days in China, they will train you up a little before you actually go to the boot camp, at least for the Beijing military region. I personally think running is not that bad as long as you are dedicated, all the people who are good in my cross country team are good because they ran more than everyone else.

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so what is the track condition for this? is it up and down hill 23min or flat ground 23 min? cuz i understand that PLA doesnt always run on flat surfaces...
what about other requirements, such as push-ups (i guess 100?i think its always been the same standard) and marksmanship (this one i am confused cuz there are so many categories, like night shoot, shooting in diff positions)

but for the running nowadays the Cat A soldiers should be running with rucksacks instead of those old style folded blankets and all that. personally i think the requirement you posted there is a bit harsh, i used to run 23min with running shoes and track suits, and i am considered a pretty good runner compared to other infanteers in my unit.